Just a little blog for posting various creations for the BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia edition of Dungeons and Dragons. All hail the Red Box!
Updated whenever possible with a little something, whether a monster or spell or item or just a little list of whatevers.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Monster: Brassbound

Sometimes an arcanesmith pushes their work just a little too far. The magic frays and snaps; the wire coils like a mad serpent, the metals flow, the clockworks spring out of array. And sometimes all of the above comes down on the hapless creator's head and burns their life away until they become something else. A brassbound is the undead aftermath of such a misfire, a charred and corroded corpse shot through with the wires and clockworks, metal plates and crystal lenses of their living craft. Some continue on, some lash out -- most do both.

In combat a brassbound attacks either by striking with ragged gears pulled from the body or lashing out at range -- up to 20' -- with coils of razor-sharp wire. In either case the attack inflicts 1-8 hit points of damage. If faced with multiple attackers or surrounded (or simply because) a brassbound will release a scalding mist of necrotic, burning acid, causing 2-12 hit points of damage for two rounds to all caught within a 25' radius; though this cloud of filth may only be produced once a day, it forces a save vs. poison or the victim's physical attributes are halved for 1-4 days. This condition may be alleviated by the brassbound -- if the creature is permitted to perform the required magitech procedures on the victim.

Brassbound are immune to non-magical weapons and to fire. All possess the abilities of a magic-user, generally varying between levels 2-16. Maddeningly enough, one half of brassbound are especially vulnerable to electricity, taking half-damage; the other half are healed by it.

I'm guessing that how electricity effects them depends on whether it played a big part in making them, but I'd bet there's no way to know for sure which you're facing, until you try it. This one is cool! It's like... magitech Borg, almost.